BioWare sometimes “bet the company” when making business decisions, says Zeschuk

Greg Zeschuk said during a talk at DICE this week that he and BioWare’s other co-founder, Ray Muzyka, had to make large business bets in order for the company to grow.

According to Zeschuk, BioWare had to do this so the company could become the major player in the industry it is today, and he suggests other firms take some risks as well.

“Stay entrepreneurial,” he said. “Obviously in the past that’s where we came from. We started our own company and it grew to where it is today. We’ve always been conscious of trying to strive for opportunities and growth.

“You have to be willing to take risks. Certainly on an entrepreneurial basis there were times when we bet the company. Over the years we paid for the entire Neverwinter Nights game ourselves. If it didn’t work we probably would have crashed and burned, we came very, very close.

“We actually bet the company when we joined Elevation Partners and when we joined EA. These are all calculated bets that we made to try and get us to be more successful.

“There were points when we thought we have to do this, to take action and make that bet. You’ve got to be aggressive. Today’s a time of great disruption but it’s also a time to make opportunity.”